Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 39.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,127 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,358 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 88,615 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 35,172 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 317,073 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,855,000 after purchasing an additional 65,644 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 147,518 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $13,005,000 after purchasing an additional 28,609 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.2% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 86,556 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth $1,171,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $100.91 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.92 and a 12 month high of $112.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,496,330.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares in the company, valued at $26,496,330.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Argus raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wedbush upped their price objective on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.94.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.